DRUGS, from page 5
think about all the other small ways this has
played out to create these huge disparities.
Once folks are released from prison, if they
have a felony conviction on their record, in
many states they can’t vote, they can’t
access public assistance, so it’s creating an
entire caste system, a second class of
citizens, that Michelle Alexander rightly
framed as being as harmful to the black
community as the Jim Crow laws.
(Alexander is the author of the 2010 New
York Times best-seller, “The New Jim Crow:
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness.”)
E.G.: Is Oregon considered a drug-reform
leader, or are we lagging behind in some ways?
E.F.: We are seen as a trailblazer on
marijuana reforms, however as far as the
other elements of drug policy reform, we’re
not seen as a pioneer, and rightly so.
There’s still a lot of room for improvement.
One step we could take is defelonizing
possession of all drugs.
On the same day that we passed Measure
91 here in Oregon, our neighbors to the
south, California, passed Proposition 47,
which changed most low-level, non-violent
offenses, including drug possession, from
felonies to misdemeanors, and it was
retroactive so it had a huge impact.
Just last week, the Maine Legislature
passed a bill changing most drug possession
charges from felonies to misdemeanors. I
think that’s a huge step that the Oregon
L eg islatu re could tak e to m ove u s fu rth e r
down this road. (In Oregon, it is a felony to
possess many controlled substances,
including heroin, cocaine,
methamphetamine and methadone.)
Another piece is Law Enforcement
Assisted Diversion, which was pioneered in
Seattle a few years back. This is diverting
individuals who commit low-level drug
offenses to harm reduction-based case
management instead of jail, and both Santa
Fe, New Mexico, and Albany, New York, are
implementing this, and I think that’s a
perfect next step for Portland, but it would
be phenomenal to see the entire state do it.
(Earlier this month it was announced a
Page 7
News
Street Roots • May 20-26, 2016
drug. We have an obligation - you have an
similar program, Homeless Engagement
obligation - as someone who is making
Alternatives Resources and Treatment, or
money in this industry, to help legalize i t ”
HEART, is in the works for Multnomah
When I was raising money for the
County.)
marriage equality movement, it reminded
The most inspirational example is in New
me of the conversations we would have with
York, where the mayor of Ithaca released
couples who wanted the right to marry, and
the Ithaca Plan, which is a radical departure
remind them that once they got the right to
from the United States’ traditional punitive
marry, there was so much more work to be
approach to drug policy, and instead focuses
done to ensure the
on public health, economic development and
protection and the equality
harm reduction. It is
of the LGBT community. I
expanding access to
"Mach of what has
see such similar things in
medication-assisted
fueled the drug war is
this drug reform
treatment, increasing
stigma and 'othering' of movement, that if someone
youth employment
programs and opening the people who use drugs. I
really cares about one
believe the compassion piece of rolling back the
nation’s first supervised
injection facility.
drug war, that we help
that would be required
If Portland wanted to
them connect the dots to
to decriminalise drugs
become a pioneer and
their motivations.
would go a long way
really take a hard look at
Frankly, what happened
toward advancing saner in Oregon, the investment
health-based approaches
drug policies."
to some of the struggles
those folks made in
that our community
ELLEN FLENNIKEN changing the laws here,
experiences, these are
we’re not seeing as much
some of the things we
in other states.
should do.
It’s rare, because it is a human rights and
social justice issue, that all of a sudden we
E.G.: When you were fundraising for
are creating the foundation for what is
Measure 91, did you get the feeling that a lot of expected to be anywhere from a $20 billion
the financial backers and people who were
to $40 billion industry in 2020. And I believe
invested in the legalization of recreational
it’s (the industry’s) obligation to invest in
marijuana were interested in that next step of
rolling back these laws. If they’re going to
decriminalizing other drugs? Or were most
benefit from it, they should certainly bear
people more interested in being able to smoke
the burden of financing it, and I am so
their weed?
grateful to the generosity of the folks in
Oregon that donated, and I know it was
E.F.: Most of my conversations with
difficult for many of them, who are running
d onors to M e asu re 91, th e biggest donors,
essentially start-up businesses who weren’t
were about these broader criminal justice
making too much profit at that point
reforms. But as far as having a well-funded
We’ve got a few more months before the
movement or campaign to decriminalize all
election this year when potentially 10 states
drugs - no, I don’t know that I see that
will be voting on marijuana, both medical
happening.
and (recreational) adult use, but I have seen
That is the interesting thing about raising
no other state do as much or be as generous
money to legalize adult use of marijuana,
from the industry toward legalizing, and it’s
particularly from folks who hoped to profit
off of legal marijuana, and it’s a conversation disappointing.
I have every single time I make an ask of
someone who has a marijuana business.
“Let’s be clear about what’s happening here:
You’re profiting off of marijuana when there
are people all over this country who are still
being arrested and incarcerated for this
E.G.: I f we decriminalize other drugs, won’t
more people use them?
E.F.: So we have actually found that is not
the case.
Regulation and decriminalization are two
different things. With Measure 91 and with
marijuana, it’s very clear that marijuana is a
substance that would not cause harm to
public health and safety, were it to be legally
regulated and sold. As far as decriminalizing
possession of all drugs, that’s a different
approach entirely.
We are advocating that simple possession
of a drug should not carry with it such
stringent penalties.
Criminalizing drugs has obviously not
been a deterrent to people using them.
What the criminalization of drugs does is,
rather than reducing the demand, it creates
this system in which the supply must be
held in an illicit market. The cartels must
secure their product through intimidation
and violence.
On a more individual level, folks who use
drugs, when they’re criminalized, don’t have
the resources in many situations to use
them safely. And there’s these public health
consequences from th a t But you have seen
other countries that decriminalize drug use,
like Portugal and (other) European
countries (where) we have not seen an
increase in the use of drugs. Instead we’ve
seen positive public health outcomes,
reduction of drug-related disease and illness,
and reduction of violence.
E.G.: How might the decriminalization of
drugs change our approach to addiction?
E.F.: Much of what has fueled the drug
war is stigma and “othering” of people who
use drugs. I believe the compassion that
would be required to decriminalize drugs
would go a long way toward advancing saner
d ru g policies.
The roots of this failed war on drugs are
based in racism and misguided approaches
to controlling certain segments of society,
and as we take these steps forward, as we
challenge society to question the
foundations of their ideas around drugs and
drug use, I believe the resulting public
health and safety benefits will be enormous.
There’s just no question that the last few
decades of drug policy have been a complete
and utter failure, and I believe society is
ready to start rolling that back.
emily@streetroots. org
I
Did you serve in the
Armedsfiorces
and are experiencing
or at risk of
becoming
homeless?
t ........................
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